1. Introduction

United for Life wrote to a number of  charities and other organisations  to raise our concerns for human life and for the environment caused by the leaching of estrogens from contraceptives such as the Pill and other chemicals into water systems and the soil.  It must be noted that the morning-after-pill contains fifty times the amount of hormones as the ordinary contraceptive pill.

United for Life raises these same concerns with  Action of Churches Together in Scotland - ACTS  and we urge  Action of Churches Together in Scotland - ACTS  to actively address pollution of the environment from contraceptives.

2. The evidence - contraception pollutes the environment

The European Commission has funded research by  EDEN  into the disruptive effects of estrogens in the water supply.  In May 2005  EDEN  produced  The Prague Declaration on Endocrine Disruption , which states that,

' Fish exposed to the contraceptive pill ingredient at concentrations found in European rivers showed disturbed sexual development and impaired reproductive capabilities at the adult stage, including reduced or inhibited egg production and egg fertilisation, hindered release of semen and lower survival of their offspring.'

Regarding unborn human life the Declaration continues,

...' Genital malformations, testis cancer, and some cases of reduced sperm quality arise early in life, even during development in the womb.  These conditions have common causes during reproductive organ development in the foetus, which is controlled by hormones.  The concern is that endocrine disrupters may interfere with these processes to disturb male genital development during pregnancy.  Similarly, hormonal dysregulation may lead to the formation of breast cancer in women and abnormal pubertal development in girls.'

The BBC On-line News article, 10 July 2004, entitled:  Pollution 'changes sex of fish' , states that,

'Hormones in the sewage, including those produced by the female contraceptive pill, are thought to be the main cause' and that, 'A third of male fish in British rivers are in the process of changing sex due to pollution in human sewage, research by the Environment Agency suggests.'

One of the easiest reports to read on this issue is by WorldNetDaily, 12 July, 2007, entitled:  Birth-control pills poison everyone .  Another good introduction to the issue is  The Pill as Pollutant - A really inconvenient truth  by Iain Murray, National Review Online, 22 April, 2008.  According to  Water Encyclopedia  ,  chemical pollutants in water can have concentrations of 1 part per billion yet this concentration changes sex of fish, while in drinking water concentrations can be 1 part per trillion.

3. A contraceptive lifestyle

Contraception clearly pollutes the environment.  In addition to hormonal contraception condoms also pollute the environment.  Condoms are disposed of in landfill sites, by incineration or through the sewage system and get into marine environments.  It has been estimated that up to a 100 million condoms per year in the UK are being disposed directly into the sewage system according to a  report  by the  Marine Conservation Society   which has also launched its  'Don' t Let Go!'   awareness campaign highlighting the impacts of balloons on the environment.  If there is concern over the environmental impact of party balloons then there should be an even greater concern over the environmental impact of condoms and the environmental impact of hormonal contraception.

The evidence shows how a contraceptive lifestyle impacts on the environment and why  Action of Churches Together in Scotland - ACTS  and other organisations need to address these human life and environmental disasters.  The use of contraception is correctly identified as an eco-crime and United for Life believes that if the Government can ban smoking on health grounds or fox hunting on animal rights grounds it can also ban the use of contraceptives on health,  human rights ,  and environmental grounds.

4. The natural alternative to contraception - which really works.

Action of Churches Together in Scotland - ACTS  must accept that NFP - Natural Family Planning - is eco-friendly, woman-friendly and human-life-friendly.  What’s more - it really works - to protect the environment and for the number and spacing of children.  Contrary to popular myth contraception and sterilisation are not required for the number and spacing of children.

WOOMB International , the natural family planning organisation, in its statement to the United Nations in June 2001 , states that,

'Women have embraced the Billings method regardless of their socio-economic status, culture or religion.  It is easily understood by all - the blind, the illiterate, those living in absolute poverty and those members of vulnerable and disadvantaged groups identified in the Habitat Agenda.  There is no cost to health or purse in the teaching or practice of this natural, eco-friendly method.  Women and governments are free of the costly complications of contraception.'

Contraceptives treat women’s natural menstrual cycle as if it is a disease to be prevented by attacking her body with carcinogenic environmentally destructive chemicals.  However, natural family planning is eco-friendly, woman-friendly and does not destroy a human life.

United for Life urges  Action of Churches Together in Scotland - ACTS  and other organisations to embrace WOOMB's eco-friendly outlook on human life which is in keeping with the environmental claim of Friends of the Earth to ‘...make life better for people.’

5. Campaign to actively address pollution of the environment

The evidence is clear - contraception pollutes the environment.  United for Life therefore asks  Action of Churches Together in Scotland - ACTS  what campaigns they have undertaken or intend to undertake in combating the use of contraceptives, its residues in the water supply, and in educating the public, the government and others, on contraception's harmful environmental effects both on humans and wildlife?